Naspers is a case study in media operator reinvention. Formerly just a South African newspaper publisher, the firm has steadily launched ISP, pay-TV and web news outfits.
But nowadays Naspers is becoming best known as one part of a holy trinity, together with Tencent and Digital Sky Technologies, that is now so influential in emerging-markets online media investment. Through its equity stake in DST, it owns a slice of Facebook, while other interests include Polish social network Gadu-Gadu and mobile media’s BuzzCity.
Now the firm is targeting Latin America, south East Asia and eastern Europe, CEO Koos Bekker tells Memeburn.
Bekker adds: “(China) came from nowhere in the nineties and they are now, after the US, the most vibrant internet market in the world. You’d think of Brazilians as “beach guys”, but they spend more time on the internet than anyone else. Brazilians are quite social. Now why people who drink a lot coffee, have lots of friends and have the beach, spend their time on the internet – I don’t know.”